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Mateo Martínez
Mateo Valente Martínez y Figueres (May 3, 1874 - February 28, 1957) was a Cuban revolutionary soldier who fought for Cuba's independence from Spain. Early life and family Mateo Martínez was born in 1874 in Contramaestre, Oriente Province in Spanish Cuba. His family was Mestizo, part indigenous (Taíno) and part Spanish, the latter with deep roots in the colony going back to the founding of New Spain in the 1500s. In the early 1800s, a branch of the Martínez family settled in the southeast of Cuba and owned a series of successful sugar and coffee plantations. The abolition of slavery in Cuba in 1886 hurt the family's income, but they were able to carry on with hired labor and soon regained their profits. In 1892, Mateo was sent to the National University of Havana. Revolutionary activity While studying Spanish law, Martínez fell in with a students' group promoting Cuban independence from Spain, and began to participate in secret activities. During this time, he also began to communicate with his uncle, Bernardo Martínez (1849-1926), a former revolutionary soldier in the Ten Years' War (1868-1878) and Little War (1879-1880) and now political exile in the United States, who encouraged these activities. The landing of Spanish troops and weapons in December 1894 galvanized Martínez and his compatriots, who strongly objected to what they saw as a foreign occupation. With the revolutionary underground planning a general uprising, Martínez returned to Santiago de Cuba to help organize resistance there. Military service Cuban War of Independence On February 24, 1895, a general uprising began across the island, called the Grito de Baire. Martínez led a small party of revolutionaries to attack a Spanish outpost east of the city, procuring much-needed arms for the new National Army of Liberation and its Mambises. This action earned him recognition, and he was put in charge of a larger group of fighters, numbering almost to platoon strength. The uprising failed in most parts of the island, but success in Oriental Province allowed the rebels to consolidate their gains in the area. In March, the Manifesto of Montecristi was published, outlining Cuban war aims and legitimizing the war effort. At the time, Cuban revolutionary forces were organizing in the east in the Playitas area for an expedition to liberate Oriental. Arriving in April at the Vuelta Grande camp, Martínez and his men were assigned to join the forces which would liberate the Santiago region. In May 1895, the Cubans began this campaign with a general offensive against Spanish targets. Martínez took part in the capture of several small towns around the city before driving the Spanish out of El Cristo. This campaign succeeded in most of its aims, and the Cubans procured weapons and ammunition, trained and consolidated the army, and won the initiative for the revolutionaries. Martínez and his men took part in attacks on Spanish-held towns, increasing the amount of territory gained by the rebels. When the Republic of Cuba in Arms was proclaimed in September 1895 following the conclusion of the campaign, Martínez was given a formal commission as a lieutenant from the government in recognition of his efforts, and he was assigned to the Infantry Regiment Excendentes, of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division. By October, the rebels were beginning to push west. Lieutenant Martínez and his men moved to Cayo Francés, then to Baraguá, then Mala Noche, slowly pushing back the Spanish forces. Moving along the Júcaro-Morón trail, they linked up with other Cuban forces in Camagüey in November before invading the west in force. In the vanguard, Lieutenant Martínez and his men met the Spanish defenders in the Battle of Iguará in December, crossing the Jatibonico River, taking Las Villas, and pushing back the Spanish. They were also present at the Battle of Mal Tiempo, where they destroyed a Spanish force in a fierce action. It was not long before the Cubans were in Matanzas Province, ready to bring the war to Havana itself. In the Battle of Coliseo, Lieutenant Martínez took part in the capture and burning of the town, before driving Spanish troops out of a mill on the road to Sumidero. They beat back a large Spanish counterattack in the Battle of Calimete, driving even further west until the war had been brought to the western tip of the island. Reaching Pinar de Rio in January 1896, Lieutenant Martínez and his men participated in the Battle of Las Taironas, repelling a Spanish attack and consolidating their foothold in the west, finally completing the invasion. For the better part of 1896, Lieutenant Martínez and the Cuban revolutionaries still had to contend with Spanish troops in the western part of the country, as well as much harsher measures taken by colonial authorities to stem the rebellion. Far from discouraging the independence movement, the brutal tactics employed by the Spanish swelled the ranks of the Liberation Army. Throughout the year, Martínez and his men battled the Spanish in their strongholds in Pinar de Rio, with fierce fighting taking place in the province's mountains. In October 1896, they launched a successful attack against a Spanish outpost in the Battle of Ceja del Negro. The contingent of troops marched east back into Havana Province, where they were attacked and forced back by the Spanish in the Battle of San Pedro, a defeat which greatly weakened the Cuban Army. Martínez was elevated to the rank of captain for his conduct in the battle. Trapped in Las Villas Province in the center of the island and outnumbered by the Spanish forces, the Cuban revolutionaries decided to wage a guerrilla campaign. Setting up at La Reforma in the vicinity of Sancti Spíritus, Captain Martínez and his troops besieged the town of Arroyo Blanco in January 1897. Though forced to lift the siege by a Spanish relief column, the guerrillas still managed to ambush enemy patrols and capture supplies, weakening the Spanish presence in the region. At Santa Teresa in March, Captain Martínez and his men, though vastly outnumbered and outgunned, managed to fight the Spanish to a standstill and continued to harass their outposts. By May, the Cubans were stepping up their operations, leading the Spanish on long pursuits, taking advantage of the hot weather and the rainy season to inflict more damage and confusion on them. In June, Captain Martínez was sent back to Oriente to participate in a new campaign there. In August 1897, he was involved in the capture of Las Tunas, which saw three days of bloody fighting between the rebels and the Spanish garrison, which eventually surrendered. Martínez's men quickly seized ammunition and supply stockpiles and burned the Spanish military buildings. The Cubans followed up in November by attacking the important town of Guisa, with Captain Martínez's men assaulting and pushing out the garrison. These battles, in addition to strengthening the revolutionary cause, also displayed the weakness of Spain's position. Throughout the year and into the next, Martínez and his men continued to fight the Spanish in the eastern part of the country, seeing many great successes. The USS Maine incident in February 1898 would eventually culminate in the United States intervening in the conflict against Spain, beginning the Spanish-American War. Captain Martínez, highly enthusiastic about foreign intervention, believed that American military participation was key to freeing Cuba from Spanish occupation. He and his men stepped up their attacks on enemy garrisons, trying their best to weaken Spanish control over the east of the country and divert enemy forces away from the American landing zones. When the Americans finally did land in June 1898, Martínez moved south to meet them. In July, after winning a hard-fought battle aginst the Spanish, the Americans began the Siege of Santiago, in an effort to capture the city. Martínez lent his services to US forces, launching raids on Spanish positions which effectively served to choke off the city's supply of food, ammunition, and reinforcements. After several days, the garrison of Santiago de Cuba surrendered, but Captain Martínez and his guerrillas were refused entrance to the city by the Americans. Spain sued for peace on July 17, 1898, but instead of independence, Cuba was now a United States posession. Occupation Martínez viewed the occupation of his country to be a betrayal by the United States forces, who had come to Cuba first as liberators. Nevertheless, he argued against continuing resistance as there was little chance of fighting and winning a second war for independence as the first one had been so costly. He also believed that the Americans would not commit atrocities as the Spanish had. In December 1898, the United States Military Government in Cuba was established, and in January 1899, he complied with the disarmament order given to all soldiers of the Liberation Army, selling his rifle and pistols to US Army officials. Martínez spent the subsequent years at his home in Contramaestre, working in the fields on his family's plantation. Republic The adoption of the Platt Amendment made possible the withdrawal of US troops and subsequent proclamation of the Republic of Cuba in May 1902. It also set the stage for deep-seated political divisions in Cuba, between the conservative, federally-minded Republicans and the populist National Liberals, who favored increased local autonomy. As a revolutionary hero who enjoyed popularity in both groups, Martínez at first attempted to stay neutral but soon began to be pushed more and more into the Republican camp. Also at this time, Martínez was asked to enlist and help establish the new government's fledgling quasi-military force. Accepted into the new Cuban Rural Guard at the rank of captain, Martínez set about training and new recruits. Second Occupation With the election of Tomás Estrada Palma, Cuba began to recover from the devastation wreaked on the island by years of war. However, as uncontroversial as his election may have been in 1902, his reelection in 1906 caused an outcry from the liberals, who accused the government of election fraud. This division soon escalated into violence, and Captain Martínez and the Rural Guard faced open rebellion from liberal dissidents. As Martínez and his men fought to prevent the rebels from damaging government infrastructure, it became clear that the government had insufficient forces to end the rebellion, and Havana asked the United States to intervene in the conflict. The rebels supported this as well, as they believed it would serve their interest in the form of fair new elections. In October 1906, US troops landed in Cuba, and fighting between the government forces and the rebels abruptly ceased. For the next two years, Cuba would be under US military occupation as before. Captain Martínez and his men assisted the Americans in constructing roads and outposts, and he continued to train the Rural Guard with American help. In 1908, he left the Rural Guard to join the Cuban Army, a permanent regular military force, in which he was accepted as a major. In May 1908, elections were held, and by February 1909, all US forces had departed from the island, save Guantanamo Bay. Negro Rebellion In 1912, the Independent Party of Color, Afro-Cuban veterans of the independence war, staged an uprising against the social mistreatment of blacks and the horrific conditions on the sugarcane plantations. Major Martínez, who had many former comrades in the rebel group, was reluctant to use his forces to suppress the uprising, but eventually relented. His men garrisonned several towns in Oriente Province, and fought a number of skirmishes with the rebels. The rebellion was quickly defeated in most areas throughout June 1912, but a small contingent withdrew into the mountains to continue the fight. Major Martínez led his men to drive the rebels from their strongholds in July, ending the rebellion for good. Cuban forces brutally and disproportionately repressed those suspected of helping the rebels, and though Martínez tried to exercise restraint, the death toll rose, and racial conditions in Cuba remained unchanged. Retirement On August 14, 1914, Major Mateo Martínez retired from the Cuban Army. Personal life In 1903, Martínez married Ana Sofía de la Cavallería from Sagua La Grande, who had been a volunteer nurse with the Liberation Army during the independence war. They had two children, Antonio Miguel in 1903 and María Eliana in 1907. Antonio followed in his father's footsteps and joined the army, as did his son Javier, who would be killed in battle fighting against Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution (1953-1959). Both Antonio and María would leave for the United States after the revolution, settling in Miami, Florida. Mateo Martínez lived a relatively uneventful life in the city of Santiago de Cuba, dying in 1957 of a heart attack. Views The son of wealthy sugar planters, Martínez had little reason to challenge the social order in his early life. However, the independence movement and the Manifesto of Montecristi appealed to him, and his views changed to accomodate ideas such as Cuban patriotism, national self-determination, and, very importantly, racial equality. During the politically divisive decades that followed independence, Martínez maintained his place in the Catholic, nationalist, and conservative faction. He supported Mario García Menocal during the crisis of 1916, and advocated for US intervention to restore order. When Cuba entered World War I by declaring war on the German Empire in 1917, Martínez declared his willingness to rejoin the army if Cuba would send troops to fight, and even offered to join the US Army. Such a proposition was not taken seriously. As both a patriot and a pious Catholic, Martínez despised corruption, supporting the Sergeants' Revolt and later advocating fervently against dictator Fulgencio Batista's regime, with its ties to American organized crime and rampant gambling, prostitution, and drug addiction. However, seeing the threat posed by the Communist 26th of July Movement during the revolution, Martínez saw the Batista government as the lesser evil, a position which earned him many detractors. He did not live to see Fidel Castro's eventual victory. Equipment As a Mambí in the Cuban War of Independence, Martínez and his rebels used whatever they could get their hands on, usually captured from Spanish troops. Martínez carried an "Spanish" M1893 Mauser bolt-action rifle, state of the art at the time. As a sidearm he used an Orbea M1884 revolver, which he later supplimented with a Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistol taken off a captured Spanish officer. He also carried a machete, a common tool found in Cuba used as a weapon by the mambises when firearms were not available. He sold these weapons to United States forces when the law of January 1899 took effect. As a soldier in the Cuban Army, Martínez carried a Springfield M1903 fifle and Colt M1911 pistol, supplied by the United States.Category:Soldiers in the Cuban War of Independence Category:Soldiers in the Spanish-American War Category:Soldiers in the Negro Rebellion Category:Cuban soldiers